The Original Outshines the Opposite Order
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day four hundred and eighty-six:  abc 15 of 26/berry.st #10  Confronted with this other Quinn, Jesse and Rachel need to decide on truth.


_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 23rd cycle. Now cycle 24!_

_**ALPHABET 2.0** - So nearly a year ago (HA!) I had done a set of stories taking inspiration by words, three for each letter of the alphabet (started with Acapella, Audition Arts in mid-February and every other day to April). Well now I wanted to do something like that, but using the alphabet another way. Instead of random words, I made sentences, all with those same letters (you'll see). The first half was in cycle 22, now here's the second half in cycle 24!  
**TODAY:** (14 of 26) N is for..._

* * *

**"The Original Outshines the Opposite Order"  
Jesse/Rachel, Jesse/AU!Quinn  
#10 (following "Boyfriends, Girlfriends, Somewhere") **

The feeling was not unlike getting called to the principal's office… it might even have been worse. Quinn had walked past them, into the library they'd just left, and it was clear she expected them to follow her… They did, though they kept a couple of paces behind, so they could get some words in while they still had the shot.

"What are we doing?" Rachel whispered. "Are we telling… What are we telling?"

"I'm not sure," Jesse whispered as well, looking up front for a moment; he had started trusting her, since he'd landed in this place, and maybe it was premature to assume it, but he had a feeling about this, about her… like maybe they could tell her. "Let's just be careful what we say or do." Rachel nodded to herself at this, and she looked back to find Quinn was leading them to sit in a corner not too far from where the two of them had been huddled up not long before. Quinn took a seat, and she looked to the pair of them standing there. Without needing to think too much, Jesse moved one way, and Rachel moved the other. They were all sat at a fair distance from one another, no one closer and no one further… perfect set up for this… whatever it was.

"You know, it's funny…" Quinn started, not looking at one of them in particular. "I mean I've tried to tell myself that I was imagining things, that after all we went through to get to where we are, that we were…" she paused herself, and Jesse and Rachel shared a quick look. "I guess I just don't understand… the situation… or you," she looked to Jesse.

"Quinn, it's not what you…" he shook his head.

"I see the way you look at her, like you know her… a lot more than you know me." There her head spun to Rachel. "Are you sleeping with him?" she asked point blank, and Rachel's mouth opened in complete surprise, while Jesse's eyes grew wide.

"W… No, no! No…" Rachel denied firmly, then tried not to sound so odd.

"You've been acting different for days," the blonde turned back to Jesse. "Not just different, you've been… off," she frowned, trying to explain it. "I mean I know this whole thing hasn't been easy on either of us, but I thought we were doing okay now…" she sounded more pleading than angry now. Jesse wasn't sure how to answer, and out of reflex his eyes darted to Rachel for guidance.

"Quinn, look…" she started, but already she'd managed to step in it.

"I don't know you," Quinn cut her off. "So why are you talking like you do, and with those looks… You can't honestly think I'm going to fall for it, that there's nothing going on!" she leaned forward, trying to keep her voice low. Rachel didn't know how to answer, but she knew she had to say something… and the words came out of nowhere to accomplish that need.

"You have a birthmark on your back!" she declared, finger pointing… she froze as soon as she heard herself… So did the others. Quinn's hand shot to her back, while Jesse stared from one girl to the next.

"How do you know that?" they both asked, and Rachel's eyes flicked from one side to the other.

"It's not… I mean… Costume changes, you see things," she shrugged.

"What are you talking about?" Quinn was more confused than ever, and Jesse wasn't entirely sure that Rachel hadn't lost her mind. But Rachel had made a decision right then, and she was going to stick with it. She looked to Quinn.

"You and I, we haven't really met before today, have we?" Quinn shook her head. "And yet I knew about the birthmark," she continued, and Quinn's hand remained at her back. "What I… what we're about to say is going to sound… impossible, and insane, but please hear us out?"

"Rachel…" Jesse whispered; was she really doing this? She didn't pay attention to him.

"Look you don't know me, but I know you. Father is Russell, mother is Judy, and you have an older sister. You live on Dudley Road, you…" Rachel started off spouting whatever she knew of her, but then…

"Stop it," Quinn shook her head, starting to freak out.

"You said he was off," Rachel went on though, pointing to Jesse. "You're right. You want to know why? It's because he doesn't belong here… I do. Jesse, your Jesse, the one who goes to McKinley and who's a part of New Directions, that's not him. And I'm not Rachel Berry from Vocal Adrenaline."

"What are you…" Quinn looked from one to the other, still beyond confused.

"I have no idea how it happened, but last week we… we woke up, and our lives, our worlds, they were completely turned upside down. I went from living here in Lima with both my fathers, to becoming a Vocal Adrenaline robot with just one dad up in Akron."

"Robot?" Jesse cut in, but she didn't pay attention.

"And he went and woke up here, with his own… alternate life…" Rachel's brow furrowed as she went on.

"You two are… insane," Quinn shook her head," though her hand was still to her lower back.

"You kissed him, didn't you?" Rachel went for the kill, and Jesse wasn't sure where to look… what if Quinn felt violated all of a sudden, realizing for all intents and purposes she'd been kissing a stranger with her boyfriend's face? She didn't say a thing, not at first. "Did it feel any different?" Rachel went on, and Quinn pondered this. "He's not your Jesse, you know it, you feel it…" Quinn's eyes turned up, to Rachel, to Jesse. After a moment, she got up, walking up to him, crouching to be at eye level with him. She looked at his face, really looked at it… the way his eyes moved, his smile… and after a few seconds, her hand slowly raised to cover her mouth.

"I'm sorry…" Jesse found himself saying, and that snapped her out of it. She got back up, and she stood there for a second before looking back down at him.

"Can you just… Give us a second?" she asked him, indicating Rachel.

"Take your time," he didn't have to be asked twice before removing himself from the situation. Quinn didn't move again until she heard the door swing open and shut in the distance. She took a seat again, in the chair just left empty by Jesse. She looked to Rachel.

"Say that I believe you… which I'm not saying I do just yet…"

"That's fine," Rachel nodded. Quinn looked at her.

"You and him, in… in your world, are you… together?" Rachel wasn't too sure how to answer that.

"It's complicated… we were, but now…"

"But you want to be," Quinn filled in for her. "I can see it." Rachel didn't answer, so Quinn picked up the conversation again. "He's not… I wa… I need mine back," she was almost pleading. "And the only way that's going to happen is if you guys get all this sorted out, right?" Rachel hesitated at first, but then quietly confirmed. "Okay then," Quinn nodded, letting out a breath. "So I'll help you."

THE END

**

* * *

**

**A/N: This is a one-shot ficlet, which means that signing up for story alert will not bring you any alerts.  
****In the event of a sequel, the story will be separate from this one. And as chapter stories go, they are  
****always clearly indicated as such [ex: "Days 204-210" in the summary] Thank you!**


End file.
